North-east rebels getting Chinese support

NEW DELHI: In a development that has seeds of starting a diplomatic row, the government, for the first time, conceded on Wednesday that acquisition of arms and ammunition by rebels in the North-East is being facilitated by easy availability of weapons in the Sino-Myanmar border towns situated in the Yunnan province of China.
In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, the government said, “There have been inputs suggesting visit of some leaders of various insurgent groups in the North-East region to China on several occasions, with the objective to establish rapport with Chinese authorities, to facilitate procurement of arms and ammunition from arms agent in that country.”
The Home Ministry also confessed that the armoury being acquired from China by the insurgent groups is being smuggled through Thailand and Sino-Myanmar border to the North-Eastern states.
“The acquisition of arms is facilitated by the easy availability of weapons in Sino-Myanmar border towns like Tengchong, Ruili and Yingjiang in Yunnan province,” Minister of State in the Home Ministry Mullappally Ramachandran said.
A couple of months ago, interrogation of top National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) leader, Anthony Shimray, had revealed $7 lakh (about `31 crore) payment was made to a Chinese arms factory for procuring lethal arms. He was also found to be in possession of 110-page secret documents giving out the exact positioning of Indian defence grid in the North-East.